Canning machine

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a canning machine for a foodstuff product ( 2 ), such as tuna fish or similar, comprising a conveyor belt ( 1 ) suitable for carrying the foodstuff product ( 2 ) into a compressing and shaping device, a pair of dies ( 14 ) suitable for shearing two cakes ( 22 ) from each portion ( 12 ) of the foodstuff product ( 2 ) and a pair of ejecting pistons ( 20 ) suitable for pushing said cakes ( 22 ) of into cans ( 19 ). Said compressing and shaping device comprises a compression channel ( 7 ) inside which is arranged a shaping member ( 8 ) provided on the bottom thereof with a separating wedge ( 13 ) and a pair of side shaping members ( 15 ) slidably arranged in a sliding channel ( 16 ) which intersect perpendicularly the compression channel ( 7 ). Each side shaping member ( 15 ) has an end provided with a semi-cylindrical concavity suitable for penetrating in the compression channel ( 7 ) by sliding between one die ( 14 ) and the bottom of the shaping member ( 8 ).

[0001] The present invention relates to a canning machine for foodstuff products, and in particular it relates to an improved canning machine capable of cutting, shaping and canning a foodstuff product such as tuna fish and similar.

[0002] It is known that canning of tuna fish presents a number of problems due to the intrinsical nature of this foodstuff and above all to the irregular consistency thereof, which makes it necessary to compress it in order to bring it to a predetermined density and therefore to maintain within acceptable limits the weight of the product introduced into each can.

[0003] Machines for cutting, compressing and canning tuna fish are already known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,141 in the name of the same applicant describes a machine wherein the portions of tuna fish obtained by cutting the product are pushed into a compression channel which is closed at one end by means of a shaping member provided with two semi-cylindrical concavities. The portions of tuna fish which are subsequently compacted against said shaping members are sheared by means of two dies having a cutting profile of semi-circular shape, thus forming two cylindrical cakes which are transferred into the cans by means of ejecting pistons.

[0004] However, a drawback of said known machine consists in that the tuna fish cakes so obtained necessarily contain a great quantity of crumbs. As a matter of fact, after each shearing and ejection of two cylindrical cakes, a residue of the tuna fish portion from which the two cakes have been obtained is left in the compression channel. Said residue has an irregular shape, in particular it is provided with two concavities whose shape corresponds to that of the cakes. Therefore, during the subsequent compression against the shaping member, it is deformed and crumbles, thus worsening the quality of the cakes obtained in the following compression cycles.

[0005] Object of the present invention is therefore to provide a machine free from said drawbacks. Said object is achieved by a machine whose main features are specified in the first claim and other features are specified in the following claims.

[0006] An advantage of the machine according to the present invention consists in that it enables tuna fish cakes to be obtained, wherein the fraction of crumbled product is very reduced with respect to that of the cakes obtained by the machines according to the state of the art. As a matter of fact, by virtue of the presence of at least two lateral shaping members, suitable for protruding into the compression channel by moving perpendicularly to the direction of the channel itself and for compacting the tuna cakes by interacting with a shaping member, the shape of the residue which is left in the compression channel, after shearing, for the subsequent canning, is substantially regular. By virtue of this more efficient shaping of the cakes, the quantity of crumbled tuna fish is really very small.

[0007] Further, by virtue of the possibility to modify the position of the shaping member of the machine according to the present invention in the compression channel, tuna fish cakes having a different size can be obtained with a single machine.

[0008] Another advantage of the machine according to the present invention consists in that, by virtue of the arrangement of the shaping member and of the lateral shaping members, the compression required during the shaping step of the tuna cakes is smaller than the one which was necessary in order to obtain cylindrical cakes with the machines according to the known art. The smaller compression of the foodstuff product enables tuna fish cakes having smoother surfaces to be obtained.

[0009] Further advantages and features of the machine according to the present invention will appear to those which are skilled in the art from the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof, with respect to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0010]FIG. 1 shows a perspective simplified view of the central body of the machine according to said embodiment of the invention; and

[0011]FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 respectively show three subsequent steps of the shaping of tuna cakes with the machine of FIG. 1.

[0012] With reference to FIG. 1, there is shown that the machine according to the present embodiment of the invention comprises in a known way a conveyor belt 1, suitable for carrying a foodstuff product 2, for example tuna fish, through an opening 3 of a compressing and shaping device, wherein the foodstuff product is brought to the density required. Said compressing and shaping device comprises a front block 4, a back block 5 and two side members 6 which connect said front and back blocks and form the side walls of a compression channel 7 positioned in the middle of the compressing and forming device. Said compression channel 7 is closed at one end thereof by means of a shaping element 8 and at the other end by means of a compactor 9, which slides in the compression channel 7 under the thrust of a pneumatic piston 10.

[0013] Once crossed opening 3, the foodstuff product 2 is cut by means of a knife 11 which provides a portion 12 of tuna fish, which is inserted into the compression channel 7 in order to be brought to the desired density. Knife 11 shown in the figure is of the type with two opposed blades, but it can be of any other type suitable for this purpose.

[0014] Tuna fish portion 12, which has a substantially parallelepipedal shape, is pressed by compactor 9 against shaping element 8. Said shaping member 8 has a substantially flat bottom, having a separating wedge 13 in the middle suitable for dividing portion 12 of tuna fish substantially in two parts. In the present description and in the claims, the term “bottom” of the separating member 8 indicates the face thereof which is turned towards the inside of the compression channel 7. According to the invention, separating wedge 13 is provided with an enlarged base through which it is connected to shaping member 8. The side profiles of said shaping member are suitably arched and delineate quarters of a circle.

[0015] Subsequently to the compression, the shearing and shaping steps are carried out in order to obtain two cylindrical cakes of tuna fish. The succession of said steps will be explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. The shearing step is carried out by means of two dies 14 arranged one next to the other behind the back block 5 of the compressing and shaping device. Differently from the dies known up to now, the cutting edge of dies 14 according to the present invention is not curved as a semi-circle, but only their adjacent ends are curved as a quarter of a circle, whereas the other ends of said cutting edges are substantially rectilinear.

[0016] The shaping step is carried out by means of side shaping members 15 which are arranged in the two wings of a channel 16 which perpendicularly intersects compression channel 7. The two wings of channel 16 are suitably made in the side members 6 of the compressing and shaping device. The ends of said side shaping members 15 turned towards the compression channel 7 are provided with concavities having a substantially semi-cylindrical shape.

[0017] Once the above mentioned compressing, sharing and shaping steps have been completed, the so obtained tuna fish cakes are ejected from the compressing and shaping device and are canned. To this purpose, a vertical shutter 17 which closes two outlet holes 18 in the front block 4 is lifted, in order to enable the tuna fish cakes to be pushed into two cans 19 by means of ejecting pistons 20.

[0018] With reference to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the improved compressing and shaping device according to the present invention will be now described in detail.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 2, the outlets of the two wings of channel 16 onto compression channel 7 are provided with shutters 21, which ensure the continuity of the side walls of the compression channel 7 during the compressing and shearing steps, and can be opened at the suitable moment in order to allow the passage of the side shaping members 15.

[0020] Still with reference to FIG. 2, there is shown that during the compressing step, portion 12, having a substantially rectangular shape, is pushed against shaping member 8 an is partially divided by separating wedge 13. Because of the shape of the side profile of the separating wedge, each one of the two so obtained halves is given a rounded shape of a quarter of a circle.

[0021] Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 3, dies 14 reach the inside of the compression channel 7, by passing through suitable openings made in the back end 5, and shear tuna fish portion 12 by separating two semifinished cakes 22 from a residue 23. By virtue of the small curvature of dies 14, whose profile is arched only as a quarter of a circle and not as a half-circle like that of the dies according to the known art, residue 23 has a regular, substantially parallelepipedal shape, therefore it is not subjected to crumbling in the course of the subsequent compressions carried out by compactor 9.

[0022] Now, with reference to FIG. 4, there is shown that the last step of shaping of the tuna fish cakes is carried out by means of the side shaping members 15, which after the opening of shutters 21 are pushed into compression channel 7 in order to confer the cylindrical shape to cakes 22, by compressing them inside their semi-cylindrical concavities. Side shaping members 15 can enter into the compression channel 7 by inserting between dies 14 and the bottom of shaping member 8. As a matter of fact, as shown with reference to FIG. 1, the cutting edges of dies 14 as well as the profile of the end of shaping member 8 are rectilinear at the ends, and therefore they do not prevent the sliding of said side shaping members.

[0023] According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, shaping member 8 is movable inside compression channel 7 and the position thereof can be modified in order to obtain cakes having a different size. In this way, in order to obtain cakes 22 having a normal size, the shaping member is arranged just above shutters 21, and remains stationary during all the compressing, shearing and shaping steps. On the other side, in order to obtain cakes 22 having a smaller size, during the compressing and shearing steps said shaping member 8 is lowered so that the quantity of tuna fish comprised between the bottom thereof and dies 13 is the desired one. However, said shaping member 8 must be raised, before the shaping step, in order to allow the opening of shutters 21 and the passage of side shaping members 20.

[0024] Further variants and additions can be made by those which are skilled in the art to the embodiment herewith described and illustrated by remaining within the scope of the invention. 

1. A canning machine for a foodstuff product (2) such as tuna fish or similar, comprising a conveyor belt (1) suitable for carrying the foodstuff product (2) into a compressing and shaping device comprising a knife (11) suitable for cutting substantially parallelepipedal portions (12) of the foodstuff product (2) and a compression channel (7) which is closed at one end thereof by means of a shaping member (8) provided at the bottom thereof with a separating wedge (13) and at the other end by a compactor (9) slidable in the compression channel (7), said machine further comprising a pair of dies (14) an a pair of ejecting pistons (20) suitable for pushing two cakes (22) of tuna fish into cans (19), characterized in that said compressing and shaping device also comprises a pair of side shaping members (15), arranged slidably inside the two wings of a sliding channel (16) which perpendicularly intersects compression channel (7), each side shaping member (15) having one end provided with a semi-cylindrical concavity suitable for penetrating into the compression channel (7) by sliding between one die (14) and the bottom of the shaping member (8), the outlet of the two wings of the sliding channel (16) onto the compression channel (7) being provided with shutters (21) which can be opened.
 2. Machine according to claim 1, characterized in that said dies (14) have cutting edges provided with substantially rectilinear profile with a curvature of a quarter of a circle at one end.
 3. A machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said separating wedge (13) has arched side profiles which delineate quarters of a circle.
 4. A machine according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said shaping member (8) is slidable inside the compression channel (7). 